Sinterklaas Season 2021

This Sinterklaas season was infinitely better than last year when everything was cancelled and Pete had COVID and we were stuck at home most of the time. As cases rose, Sinterklaas entrances began to get cancelled, but Amsterdam kept theirs, albeit different than usual. He sailed up the Amstel as usual, but then transferred to a smaller boat and sailed along Prinsengracht instead of transferring to his horse and traveling by foot through the city center. We watched from there and found the whole thing to be awfully subdued. Hardly any music and only a few boats in his entourage. Oh well, better than nothing! 

The important job of selecting which 5 nights the piets would deliver small gifts in their shoes. 

Parade time!

Let the merriment begin!

Holiday mashup after Thanksgiving when we decked the halls

The piets heading out to school December 3rd when Sinterklaas would be visiting. 

Great pictures from school capturing her excitement

Amerigo retired, but Ozosnel is back in action!

On the night of December 5th, Sinterklaas came! All of a sudden the doorbell rang and there was the sack of gifts by the door! And some happy kiddos. Thanks, Sinterklaas for bringing joy into our home during a time of high anxiety. We'll tell Santa you say hello! 

Late Fall Life

In between all of the holidays, late fall flew by. COVID restrictions came back and while it's hard to remember the timing of everything, first, all restaurants and bars had to close at 8pm. We got in a final dinner at Neni. Cultural events could continue, so I saw House of Gucci with friends. Then everything had to shut by 5pm except essential shops. Delta hit us hard and cases shot up in an extremely discouraging way. This new partial lockdown is about to be extended 3 more weeks and Dutch schools are likely to close early for the winter break. Kids haven't been offered vaccines here yet and COVID has just been plowing through the schools. Our scare was over a week ago when a classmate and teacher from Maeve's class came down with it. Her class stayed open and we all held our breaths through this past weekend. 

Some exciting things happened! Jude swam for his A diploma and passed! With the new restrictions, sadly we were not allowed to watch him. The test is standardized across the country and has a lot of elements of survival swimming including swimming in clothes. After the New Year, he'll continue on to try to earn his B and C diplomas. Maeve has made good progress in her work towards the A diploma as well. And Pete and I have stated our Dutch language exams to keep citizenship options open for us. I passed the reading exam and Pete is awaiting his writing exam results. 1 down, 4 more to go (writing, speaking, listening and Dutch culture). 

Brunch and our farewell gifts from Juliette

Fall in the neighborhood

I was about to give up on this Dahlia plant and when we returned from Fall break, it had bloomed into this gorgeous blossom! 

So many birthday parties! 

Happy 1st Ollie! 

A beautiful fall walk in the city with Deanna (another friend about to depart :( ). 

No longer allowed in ISA with restrictions. Grateful to be allowed on the playground??

Family pizza dinner out before the latest restrictions set in 

Kids found a chess set to entertain them

And finally, we completed our first real home renovation project (by we, I mean our contractors). We redid the downstairs 1/2 bath. We were tired of the pull string light switch, strange toilet, and dated interiors. It was a learning process, but we are happy with the finished result! 

Before

After

Fall Holidays 2021

The mash-up of American and Dutch fall holidays steamrolled us yet again! Non-stop merry-making from October 31 through the New Year. 

First up, Halloween. Despite rising case numbers, ISA held their annual trunk or treat the Friday before Halloween. It was so nice having this tradition back. The kids had a blast with their friends.

Despite owning a mermaid costume, Maeve decided she needed a homemade one instead. 

Happily, these guys just picked costumes from the costume drawer! 

I tried. 

After organizing a few neighbors to give out candy last year, one of the neighbors invited all of Amstelveen to participate in Halloween this year. There was a good concentration of participating houses near us so we had a crew over for some pizza and trick or treating. Just as we went out, the rain started pouring down! We retreated into the house to try to wait it out, but eventually had to suck it up and trudge out in the rain. We were a motley crew! 

 

Shortly after on Sint Marteen, we visited a few houses with Julian and Lucia. It actually wasn't raining! This year, the older boys learned a charming version of one of the classic songs in school.... It was quite shocking to hear Jude singing "mijn moeder is een dikzak" (my mother is a fat bag)! 

Next, Sinterklaas arrived and we watched his subdued arrival in the canal rings. Post to follow!

And then, Thanksgiving! Christie and Dan were the most excellent hosts, with a delicious spread, games to entertain the kids and family charades to end the night! Memories made all the more special as it was our last gathering with the Bulls, who made an earlier-than-expected return to Seattle. New COVID restrictions limited household guests to 4 adults a day so thankfully we didn't have to change our plans. Negative self-tests for all helped us feel safe. I love sharing this day with fellow Americans and in these restricted times, it was nice to have something to look forward to.